Strategies

Preventing contaminants from impacting sources of drinking water is a top strategy for communities across the Great Lakes Basin.

Thousands of substances used in everyday life - from pharmaceuticals to consumer products - may pose threats to source water. While the presence of some of these substances in drinking water sources and their potential health impacts are well documented, many others have only recently been discovered and are much more poorly understood. These are commonly known as emerging contaminants.

The U.S and Canada both require communities to assess drinking water sources for potential sources of contamination; however, jurisdictions vary in what types of planning efforts are required to respond to identified threats and protect drinking water sources.

All water that flows from a tap originally comes from a source. Great Lakes communities work to raise awareness about where drinking water comes from and what citizens can do to protect their source water and use diverse methods to inform citizens of threats and opportunities to help protect source water.